French car sales have slumped to their worst since Nicole and Papa felt the
need to start selling thousands of Renault Clios to Britain.

Official figures showed 300,000 fewer sales in 2012, a year-on-year crash of
14 per cent to 1.9 million. It is the poorest performance in 15 years and
means that sales of cars in France have been overtaken by the numbers
leaving British showrooms. It is even worse than the Spanish car market,
which yesterday reported a 13 per fall in 2012.

National brands are faring especially badly. Peugeot and Citroën, which
account for nearly a third